At a time when a gurdwara in the US has been targeted by extremists and minority Hindus in Pakistan face harassment, a gurdwara in Tehran, where the Prime Minister is visiting from August 28, stands tall, with the community receiving strong support from local authorities.

Next week, while PM Manmohan Singh is busy with the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, his wife Gursharan Kaur will visit the Sikh shrine established in 1941 in downtown Tehran.

It is not certain if Singh will pay obeisance there though the Sikh community is hopeful.

External affairs minister S.M. Krishna had visited the gurdwara in 2010 and ex-PM Atal Behari Vajpayee had visited it in 2001.

While the West often targets Iran for religious intolerance, the Sikhs have had a different experience in the country.

The community has never faced any problem from the Iranian government or locals. Currently, 60 Sikh families reside in Tehran and the city of Zahedan.

The PM's visit is significant as it comes at a time when the US is pushing India to decrease oil imports from Iran and use its good offices to convince Tehran to suspend its 'nuclear weaponisation programme'.

While oil imports from Iran to India have decreased because of troubles faced by Indian oil firms following US and EU sanctions, India has made it clear it can't follow unilateral US sanctions and reduce oil purchases altogether.

'We had proposed a meeting with Khamenei, in which the PM will raise all issues for India-Iran bilateral ties. Peace is our primary concern, given just how important the West Asian and Gulf region is for India's security and economy,' foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai said at a press meet ahead of the PM's trip.

Actually, wherever Sikhs go, they set up their Gurudwaras and maintain and finance such Gurudwaras themselves.

If one goes to Gurudongmar in North Sikkim, which is next to Tibet, one will find a small Gurudwara next to the Lake. The Gurudwara is maintained by the Army! There are no other places of worship there of any religion or any shrine except the Gurudwara. Guru Nanak is said to have visited that place and struck the pool at a certain place and that place never freezes over. If one drinks the water of this Lake, then one can overcome infertility it is said.

It maybe a coincidence, but I brought a jerrycan of this water for an officer of mine, who had no children, though he had married for 09 years. He and his wife used this water and within the year had twins!

On the issue of the Gurudwara in Tehran, it was pleasing to learn that the locals of Iran are giving support.

Shias are supposed to be more tolerant than the Sunnis and hence there is no issues here while in Pakistan everything is up in flames.

They are multi-cultural only toward montheistic religions... not polytheistic ones like Hinduism.

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Iran's fastest-growing faith seems to be Hinduism of the New-Age guru variety. (Buddhism comes a close second). Sathya Sai Baba, Rajneesh, Mahesh Yogi and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar are familiar figures in middle class drawing rooms. For many in the elite, Yoga is far more important than Haj.

Actually, wherever Sikhs go, they set up their Gurudwaras and maintain and finance such Gurudwaras themselves.

If one goes to Gurudongmar in North Sikkim, which is next to Tibet, one will find a small Gurudwara next to the Lake. The Gurudwara is maintained by the Army! There are no other places of worship there of any religion or any shrine except the Gurudwara. Guru Nanak is said to have visited that place and struck the pool at a certain place and that place never freezes over. If one drinks the water of this Lake, then one can overcome infertility it is said.

It maybe a coincidence, but I brought a jerrycan of this water for an officer of mine, who had no children, though he had married for 09 years. He and his wife used this water and within the year had twins!

On the issue of the Gurudwara in Tehran, it was pleasing to learn that the locals of Iran are giving support.

Shias are supposed to be more tolerant than the Sunnis and hence there is no issues here while in Pakistan everything is up in flames.